Conveyer-loading device.



No. 788,180. PATENTED APR. 25.1905.

F. R. WILLSON, JR.

GONVEYER LOADING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 22, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SEEET 1.

WITNESSES: INVENTOH r ATTORNEY.

PATENTED APR. 25, 1905.

F. R. WILLSON, JR. GONVEYER LOADING DEVICE.

APPLIOATIQN FILED MAY 22. 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

/ INVENTOR ATTORNEY.

WITNESSiS/ WQaQ/ PATENTED APR 25, 1905. P. R. WILLSON', JR- GONVEYERLOADING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 22, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INVENTOH WI TNESSES:

No. 788,180. PATENTED 41 11.25, 1905.

P. R. WILLSON, JR.

' GONVBYER LOADING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 22, 1902.

4 SHEETS-411E131 4.

flll l l ljllllllllll] I liifillllllllllli Illlllll 1/ INVENTOI?ATTORNEY.

WITNESSES."

JQJW

NllTED STATES Patented April 25, 1905.

FREEMAN R. W'ILLSON, JR, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO. ASSIGNOR TO JOSEPH A.JEFFREY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

CONVEYER-LOADING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,180, dated April25, 1905.

Application filed May 22, 1902. Serial No. 108,596.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREEMAN R. VVILLsoN, Jr., a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and 5 State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inConveyer-Loading Devices, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation illustrating the generalfeatures of a conveyer apparatus embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the bucket-loading devices. Fig. 3 is a longitudinalsection of the bucket-loader and of part of the conveyer. Fig. 4 is aView, partly in front elevation,partl y in section,of the bucketloader.Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the conveyer-actuating mechanism.Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan View of part of the feed-apron. Fig. 7 is asectional view on the line 0c of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is an elevation of thefeederwheel detached. Fig. 9 shows in front elevation the driving-shaftfor the feeder.

To illustrate one method of employing an apparatus containing myimprovements,I have selected a locomotive-coaling station and in Fig. 1have shown it conventionally and have also shown aconveyer in connectiontherewith. Referring to that figure, Aindicates the general plane of thesurface of the ground and from it there rises upward the structure,(indicated as a whole by 13,) while below this line there is sunk a pitto contain parts of the conveying apparatus and the loaders therefor.The structure B in its upper part supports a series of coal-bins B B BB* and a sand-bin B Railway-tracks are shown at Z) 6 6 those at I) 6being illustrated as adapted to bring to the conveyer and elevator thecoal or sand which it is desired to elevate and store in the aforesaidbins and those at 6 being shown as adapted for locomotives which are toreceive their charges of coal or sand from the said bins, there beingspouts or movable chutes at b for this purpose.

The conveyer is indicated by O, the parts thereof to be referred to morespecifically below. It is arranged to travel on a lower horizontal runO, a vertical run C an upper horizontal run O", and adown vertical runO, there being at C a section of the conveyer and of its support whichis adapted to be adjusted to provide for regulating the tension of thismechanism for taking up slack, &c.

The conveyer proper comprises a series of buckets C C supporting-chainsO at the sides, hinges O, which unite the buckets to the chains, andantifriction-rollers O, which are mounted at the sides of thechain-links and are fitted to the tracks or rails C The wheels C supportthe conveyer upon the track. The conveyer at no point rests upondrive-wheels, the only wheels with which it or its chains come incontact being the wheels at the tension-take-up device to be described.At the two upper and one of the lower corners of the rectangular patharound which the conveyer moves the track-rails are merely curved, andthe downward stress and weight of the conveyerare at all points taken bythese track-rails.

Motion is imparted to the conveyer by means of an endless drivingdevice, (indicated by E,) it comprising chains and a sprocket-drivingmechanism, together with arms or projections, which engage with the mainconveyer and impart motion to the latter.

At L is located the initial hopper, which re ceives the coal or othermaterial in the first instance and which is to be loaded to the conveyerabove described.

M is an intermediate guide or chute between the hopper and the conveyer.

N indicates as an entirety the apparatus for controlling the delivery ofthe material from the chute M to the buckets.

As shown, the hopper L has the side walls Z Z and the end walls Z, thesepreferably converging to guide the material to a reduced area of escapeat Z The chute or guide M has the side walls on m and the back wall on.

The material coming downward from the hopper L into the guide or chute Mis checked by the horizontal wall-like part of the controlling device,(indicated as a whole by N,) and as it thus descends under the influenceof gravity and the pressure from the upper part of the mass it seeksreaches and stops at a plane indicated by the line M; Various deviceshave been used or proposed for controlling the passage of such a mass ofmaterial, including a short endless series of hoppers carried by chainsand successively registering with the buckets below, also rotarymeasuring-cylinders divided into compartments and also reciprocatingfloors or valves. Having had experience with each of a number of suchdevices, I have found serious disadvantages to be incident to them. Theloading mechanism having the reciprocating valve or plate has been theleast disadvantageous of these devices; but nevertheless there aredisadvantages incident to it, and particularly this, that it requirestwice the power to move it that I have found to be necessary if amechanism such as that herein be employed. The entire weight of the massof material in the hopper and in the chute or guide rests upon the valveor plate, and if it is reciprocated it is necessary to first drag itback under the load of the said superincumbent weight and then push itforward again under the same, it being resisted in both directions bythe friction of the material which rests upon it, and even when thevalve is supported upon rollers or wheels it still has this friction ofthe superincumbent mass to overcome. This trouble I have obviated bysubstituting a flat floor-like carrier adapted to move continuously inone direction, though moving step by step, the essential parts of whichI will describe.

N indicates an apron-carrier formed of chains and sheets of flight orplate material secured to the tops of the chains and extending from oneto the other, so as to make a tight imperforate floor. This carrier ismounted upon the wheels 0 O on the shaft 0 in the rear of the wallm andupon the wheels 0 O on the shaft 0, situated in a transverse planesomewhat forward of the above-described line M, which indicates theinclined plane at which the material naturally comes to rest. When theparts are thus arranged, the apron serves at all times as a completecut-off for the material (so far as concerns its tendency to be crowdedor forced downward by the weight of the mass in the hopper) and at thesame time is ready to deliver a small amount of the material restingupon it to each of the buckets passing below it. For this latter purposethe carrier is moved as follows: P is a gearwheel on the shaft 0, whichmeshes with a gear-wheel P on a shaft p, mounted transverselyof theconveyer. The shaft 0 is mounted in an arm P, which in turn is mountedupon and adapted to swing around the shaft 0, whereby shaft p can bemoved up or down, as desired, without varying the meshed relations ofthe wheels P and P. This shaft also carries a toothed wheel or disk P,the teeth of which are indicated by P. These teeth lie in the path ofthe conveyer-rollers C, and as the latter advance they successivelyimpinge on the teeth P and impart step-bystep movement to the wheel Pand the wheels P and P. The arm P and its shaft 3) are su pported bymeans ofsuspending bars, rods, or links P, which extend upward to asuitable point as, for instance, to the framework or floor at P abovethe conveyer. The suspending devices are preferably pivoted at p to lugsor ears formed on the arms P and the bearings of the shaft 19. At theupper end of the suspending rod or link there is an adjusting mechanism,herein shown as consisting of an eccentric carrier P to which the rod orlink is pivoted at P By means of the arm P and the operating device at Pthe adjusting mechanism can be thrown from one position to another, soas to elevate or lower the suspending devices together with the wheels Pand P. When the latter are put in their lower positions, they can beacted on by the conveyer and the feeding belt or conveyer will be causedto deliver intermittent charges to the buckets. When the suspendingdevices are drawn up, the wheel P will be taken out of the lines of therollers or other parts of the conveyer and will not be acted uponthereby.

In order to prevent torsion and lateral strains or twistings of theconveyer carrying the buckets or of the loading-carrier or of the partswhich actuate the latter, I prefer to employ a duplicate set of drivingparts, one upon the right-hand side of the conveyer and the other uponthe left.

It will be seen that there is no backward motion of any of the partsupon which rests the load of material, there being, on the contrary,only step-by-step advance movements of the conveyer, and as there is atendency for this load to naturally crowd forward the movement of thecarrier is accomplished with little, if any, rubbing or dragging of theconveyer-surface under the mass. At the same time it will be seen thatthat part of the material which is in advance of the aforesaid line Mhas no tendency to crowd or squeeze forward, the force which causes suchcrowding being lost at the line M, and consequently when the conveyerceases in its movement there is no material tendency of the material tospill over the front end of the carrier.

The loaded buckets travel along the path of the conveyer until theyreach the upper run, and as they move along the latter they areautomatically emptied successively into one or another of the bins B B&c. The tilting of the buckets to empty them may be accomplished in anypreferred manneras, for instance, by means of lugs R withantifrictionrollers r on the ends of the buckets adapted to engage withsuitable cams, tracks, or the like capable of adjustment to and from thepath of said lugs, one of the tripping devices being properly arrangeddirectly above each of the bins or hoppers.

chute, and the series of conveyer buckets or receptacles of the endlesscarrier interposed between the buckets and the chute and arranged tohave its plates form a cut-off floor for the chute upon which rests thematerial therein, and an intermittently-moving wheel rotatingcontinuously in one direction and engaging with the conveyer forimparting a step-bvstep movement to said carrier, its said movementsbeing always in one direction, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the hopper or chute, and the series of conveyerbuckets or receptacles of the endless carrier interposed between thebuckets. and the chute and arranged to have its plates form a cut-offfloor for the chute upon which rests the material therein, and anintermittently-moving wheel rotating continuously in one direction andmovable from and to an operative position for imparting a step-bystepmovement to said carrier, its said movements being always in onedirection, substantially as set forth.

4. Thecombination with a hopper or chute and the series of conveyerbuckets or receptacles, of the endless carrier interposed between thebuckets and the chute and arranged to have its plates form a cut-01ffloor for the chute upon which rests the material therein,automatically-acting devices engaging with the conveyer for imparting astep-by-step movement to said carrier, and means for moving saidautomatically-acting devices into and out of working relation with theconveyer, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with a hopper or chute and the series of conveyerbuckets or receptacles, of the endless carrier interposed between thebuckets and the chute and arranged to have its plates form a cut-offfloor for the chute upon which rests the material therein,automatically-acting devices engaging with the conveyer for imparting astepby-step movement to said carrier, and means for locking saidautomatically-acting devices in and out of working relation with saidconveyer, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the hopper or chute, and a series of conveyerbuckets or receptacles, of the endless carrier interposed between thebuckets and the chute and arranged to have its plates form a cut-offfloor for the chute upon which rests the material therein,and anintermittently-moving toothed wheel engaging with the conveyer forimparting a stepby'-step movement to said carrier, its movement beingalways in one direction, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence-of two witnesses.

FREEMAN R. VVILLSON, J R.

Witnesses:

J. E. MCDONALD, J. F. DANIELL.

